Books of bound leaves are common articles known from antiquity. They may be found either as paperback or hard back types and in various dimensions. Often books are taken to restaurants, lunchrooms, offices, picnic tables and elsewhere to be read while the reader is also eating a meal. A device is needed to hold a book open and its leaves restrained so that the reader may use his hands for eating while also reading. Similarly, students, office workers, musicians, cooks and others have need for a device for holding a book open for viewing and while also handwriting, using a keyboard, playing a musical instrument, cooking or engaging in leisure activities.
Despite an obvious and long-standing need, no portable article or device has gained wide use. In order to attain wider acceptance, a portable device should probably combine the following characteristics: compactness, light weight, inconspicuousness, low cost and adaptability to books of various sizes. At the same time such a device should function well when used to restrain the pages of a book and while also allowing the pages to be turned easily. A folding wire-frame device for holding a book upright and open (U.S. Pat. No. 3,007,278) is sold in bookstores but rarely seen in public areas. The device is too expensive for its use, not easily carried in a book, too conspicuous for use in public places and has a tendency to fold up when used with small paperback books. A book weight consisting of two weights sewn into the ends of a leather strip approximately eight inches in length is also widely sold. This article is heavy by design and too bulky to be carried within the pages of a closed book.
There are various methods of holding a book open, such as using two hands or the thumb and a finger of one hand to retain the pages back. Other known methods include applying pressure with one or two hands on a stable surface, such as a table or the lap of the reader. However, these methods can provide discomfort to the reader after a prolonged time.
Various products exist in the market to address this problem. For example, there are book holders that permit the reader to place the book on a stand on a desk or other flat, stable surface. These book holders, however, are limited in their use or ease of operation. Tabletop book holders limit the position and location in which a reader can read the book. For example, a reader cannot use a tabletop book holder when reading in bed, on the sofa, in a bath, in the gym, when traveling, etc. The book holders currently known are generally too cumbersome to carry during travel, making it impractical.
In addition, it is desirable to be able to have a book holder that maintains the book in an open position, particularly newer books or paperback books that tend to urge themselves closed.
It is also desirable to be able to have a book holder that may be collapsed substantially flat so that it may be carried separately, such as in a purse or pocket, or enclosed within the book itself.
The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of this invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the preferred embodiment of the invention is shown and described, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated of carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.